Compaction machines are used to compact landfill sites, garbage dumps and other such locations. These compaction machines typically have four large wheels made of steel with each wheel having a rim or outer wrapper about 1/2 inch to 11/8 inches thick. The outer wrapper has a working face for contacting the surface of tile area, or bed of material, to be compacted. Inverted V-shaped cleats are usually mounted on each of the wheels. Each of these cleats have a cutting face, which is typically relatively flat, at the apex of the cleat and a base for being mounted on the working face. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,668,122 and 4,919,566 disclose such cleats. These cleats are typically staggered around the periphery of the outer wrappers and generally mounted transversely on the working face of each wheel, that is with the longitudinal axis of each cleat being generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the wheels. As the machine is driven over the bed of material to be compacted, tile cleats sink into the waste material until the working face of tile wheels come in contact with the bed surface. Repeated passes over the area to be compacted are intended to demolish and compact the waste material forming the compaction bed.
The inverted V-shape of prior cleats is intended to provide a self cleaning action to help prevent refuse and other material from sticking to each cleat and clogging up the wheels. The effectiveness of the machine in compacting the refuse material decreases when the wheels get clogged up with material. While prior inverted V-shaped cleats have some self cleaning capabilities, there is still a need for a better cleat design that is even more likely to prevent refuse and other material from sticking to it and thereby clog up the working face of the wheels.
The cutting face of prior inverted V-shape cleats is intended to help demolish the waste material into smaller pieces. Smaller pieces of waste material can be more effectively compacted than larger pieces. While a number of prior cleats have cutting faces which may facilitate demolishing waste material into smaller pieces, there is a need for a better cleat design that more effectively demolishes waste material into smaller pieces.
Landfills, garbage dumps and the like can be very high with sloped faces. Compaction machines are often required to travel horizontally across these sloped faces. The compaction machine should be able to travel in this manner without sliding down the sloped face. Cleats have been mounted to the working face of the driving wheels in a number of patterns in an effort to stabilize the machine as it travels across the sloping face. While some cleat patterns have tended to stabilize these machines, there is a need for even better stabilization. In addition, some of these cleat patterns are known to become clogged up with waste material.
Compaction machines are used to compact a wide variety of materials. Some of these materials can be very abrasive. Prior cleats have been known to wear such that their cutting faces become rounded, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the cleat in demolishing and the machine in compacting the material. Therefore, there is also a need for a cleat which is more likely to retain its effectiveness in demolishing waste material for a longer period of time.